Contents

In the beginning there is nothing save a Pearl, containing a dreaming mighty, unfathomable spirit, the One, Anu.

At some point Anu considered itself and desires perfection and so casts all evil from itself, creating the Prime Evil, Tathamet.

Now two separate beings, Anu and Tathamet war against each other within the Pearl for countless millennia, until finally exhausted from the battle, they both deliver their final blows. The resulting cataclysm destroys them both and lays the foundation for all Creation. Pandemonium marks the epicenter of this event.[1]

Angels and demons wage war over the Worldstone, the artifact changing hands many times. The Pandemonium Fortress is built to house it, but it too changes hands many times.

After eons of battle, the angel Inarius seeks to abandon the Great Conflict. He gathers like-minded angels and demons, most notably Lilith. His renegades steal the Worldstone and use it to create their own realm where they will be free of the conflict—Sanctuary.

The Great Conflict grinds to a halt, as without the Worldstone, Heaven and Hell are left without a goal.[1]

After forming Sanctuary, Inarius and Lilith mate and created offspring called nephalem. Other renegade angels and demons did likewise. Thus were born those who would later be known as the Ancients, from whom all humans are distant descendants.

The renegade angels and demons fear the power of the nephalem and consider exterminating them all. Lilith is driven into a mad frenzy at this prospect of her children being exterminated, so kills every single renegade angel and demon in Sanctuary except for her once lover Inarius.

Inarius is horrified by Lilith's actions but can't bring himself to kill her, so banishes her from Sanctuary into the Void.

Inarius twists the powers of the Worldstone to weaken the powers of the nephalem over the next generations until no special powers remain. Thus emerges the race of humanity, which bears no knowledge of its birthright.[1]

Recovered artifacts indicate that by this time, writing, art, and science had become an integral part of human culture. Modern scholars agree that this time marks the beginning of Kehjan, humanity's first civilization.[2]

Jere Harash summons the first demon into Sanctuary. His fellow Vizjerei perfect this summoning art, establishing demonology and the enslavement of demons as the basis of their power. Consequently, the Prime Evils learn of the existence of Sanctuary and humanity's latent power.[2]

A simple farmer, Uldyssian, is dragged into the conflict between the Triune and Cathedral of Light cults, when Lilith, who somehow manages to return from the Void, unlocks the hidden nephalem powers within him. She plans to use him as a slave against Inarius.[1]

Uldyssian and his followers give rise to the Edyrem. The group sets out to dismantle both the Triune and Cathedral and end their dominance. In the process, the High Heavens learn of the existence of Sanctuary and humanity.[3]

The Triune and Cathedral are destroyed, Lilith cast back to the Void, and the Worldstone is altered, removing Inarius's 'blanket' over humanity's potential. However, the High Heavens invade Sanctuary, seeking to eradicate the "abomination" of humanity. The Burning Hells openly invade as well, and thus begins a three-way battle between the Heavenly Host, Demonic Legion, and Edyrem.[4]

Uldyssian becomes more powerful than angel or demon after unlocking his full nephalem power, but he realizes he is losing his humanity and decides to sacrifice himself to expel both Heaven and Hell from Sanctuary. The release of energy strips the Edyrem of their powers and resets the Worldstone to the state Inarius left it in.[1]

The Angiris Council votes on the issue of Sanctuary. Tyrael, moved by Uldyssian's sacrifice, makes the deciding vote that spares both. The Council subsequently makes a pact with Mephisto that both Heaven and Hell will recognize Sanctuary as its own realm, that humanity will be left free to choose its own path between Order and Chaos. To seal the deal, Mephisto is given Inarius as a slave, to be tortured for all eternity.[1]

Thus ends the Sin War. Only a few select individuals recall the events of Uldyssian's uprising.[4]

Believing the Sin War to merely be a clash of faiths, the majority of Kehjan's populace turn away from religion. The land is renamed Kehjistan in order to distance itself from the conflict.[2]

More and more people turn to the Mage Clans for guidance. Thus begins the Age of Magic.[2]

Mages who retain their memories from the Sin War declare that no mage must ever again summon a demon into the world, that humanity must remain free of angelic and demonic influence. The Vizjerei, Ennead, and Ammuit clans are left as the dominant mage clans, and suppress popular religions.[1]

It is discovered that the Vizjerei are continuing the practice of demonology. This revelation sparks a series of assassinations and political intrigue aimed at stripping the Vizjerei of their power.[2]

The leader of the Hand of the Prophet foresees a conflict that will occur 1500 years into the future. He places the group's sisterhood into a magical slumber, where they will awake to aid heroes in the future age.[6]

The final battle of the Mage Clan Wars occurs between the brothers Horazon, Bartuc, and their respective forces. Bartuc is killed and the city of Viz-jun destroyed.[1] The power of the Mage Clans is forever broken.[2]

Fallout from the conflict occurs as the people turn against the mages. Some mage clans (including the Vizjerei) survive, but in diminished form. Numerous tomes of lore are destroyed, the order of the Viz-Jaq'taar is formed to deal with rogue mages, and laws are passed forbidding the use of magic. The Age of Magic thus comes to be replaced with the Age of Faith, and numerous new religions spring up.[1]

First year of the Anno Kehjistani. Dates move upwards from this point.

Akarat sees a vision while on Xiansai and attributes it to an angel named Yaerius. He gains supposed insight into the universe, reality, and humankind itself as an ascended power. Preaching the virtues of the Light, he gains a following in the numerous cities he visits.[2][1]

Emperor Tassara of Kehjistan converts to the increasingly influential Zakarum faith, thus restoring his popularity amongst his restless subjects and stabilizing the region.[2]

The empire's capital is moved to Kurast. Tassara codifies the Zakarum faith's core beliefs and elects the first Que-Hegan. Records describe the Zakarum as a bona fide church and organized religion from this point forward.[2]

After three years of codified Zakarum faith, Tassara continues to be overshadowed by his childhood friend and Zakarum zealot, Rakkis. After defeating a coup of renegade nobles who seek to overthrow the church, Rakkis becomes a living legend. He uses his influence to replace government officials with Zakarum bishops, upsetting the region's balance of power.[2]

Wary of Rakkis's growing popularity, Tassara dispatches the general on a crusade to spread Zakarum to the lands of the West. With the departure of Rakkis and his most loyal forces, Tassara is able to secure his control over Kehjistan.[2]

Around the time of Rakkis's departrue, the cleric Akkhan forms the Crusader order. He sends them to the east to seek out a means to purify the Zakarum faith, as per his belief that the church had strayed from Akarat's teachings.[2]

After years of warring with the peoples of the West and North, Rakkis ends his journey by founding Westmarch and becoming the nation's first king.[2] Just prior to this he discovers the ruins of Corvus, an ancient city of the Nephalem, and learns of humanity's ancestry.[14]

A decade after becoming king, Corvus continues to frustrate Rakkis in regards to his search for the nephalem's powers. Hearing of the existence of the Worldstone, he marches north to invade the Northern Steppes.[14]

Que-Hegan Zebulon I initiates a reformation of the Zakarum Church, urging the faith to align with its ascetic and humble origins. The act is well received by the people and it sparks a surge in independent worship, secularism, and mysticism. However, the archbishops of the Zakarum High Council view these events as an erosion of the church's power, but are unable to keep Zebulon in check.[2]

Around this time (mid-12th century), the church dispatches clerics to the west to spread the word of Zakarum. The rigors of travel lead to the assignment of the Protectors of the Word to protect future missionaries.[16]

Deckard Cain's father succumbs to sickness. A few weeks later, he has a falling out with his mother, refusing to believe her tales of the Horadrim are anything more than old stories. It is a belief he maintains for decades.[17]

With the ascension of Que-Hegan Karamat, the High Council fulfills its goal of reverting Zebulon's reformations. Karamat is manipulated into establishing a strict system of worship that imposes harsh punishments on nonconformists. Missionary work takes on an increasingly martial tone. This marks the start of the Zakarum Inquisition, as the church purges various sects and brutally suppresses other religions such as Skatsim.[2]

The height of the Time of Troubles.[16] Amid Zakarum's increasing zealotry, a group of Zakarum paladins break away from the church. They found the new Order of Paladins, to fight the darkness directly. They venture into the west to begin their campaign.[2]

At the behest of the Zakarum High Council and urging of Lazarus, Leoric is sent to govern the land of Khanduras. He repurposes the Horadric monastery into a Zakarum cathedral and declares himself king.[2]

Upon arriving at Tristram, Lazarus frees Diablo. Once freed, Diablo attempts to possess Leoric, but without success. However, Diablo is able to strip away the king's sanity, and over time, Leoric descends into madness.[2]

Archbishop Lazarus kidnaps Leoric's youngest son Prince Albrecht, to be used as a vessel for Diablo himself. Diablo's possession of Albrecht spawns a multitude of demons from Albrecht's worst nightmares and twists the deepest levels of the cathedral into a scene out of Hell itself.[25]

The loss of Albrecht shatters what remains of Leoric's sanity, and Tristram is plunged into horror as the king seeks to torture and execute all he suspects of conspiring against him.[25]

Lachdanan, captain of King Leoric's army, returns from the disastrous war with Westmarch and is forced to kill Leoric. The fallen monarch curses Lachdanan and his followers with his dying breath. Not long afterward, Lachdanan and the king's guards are attacked by Leoric, resurrected as the Skeleton King, as they attempt to bury him.[12] The king's curse transforms Lachdanan and his men into the dreaded Hell Knights in the deepest parts of the cathedral.[26]

Archbishop Lazarus leads a group of villagers into the cathedral on a mission to rescue Albrecht and abandons them to a bloodthirsty demon called The Butcher. Only a few survive.[25]

Prince Aidan returns to Tristram. With hisallies, he ventures into the depths of the catehdral.[2]

The Butcher is defeated.[12] Subsequently, so are the Skeleton King and Lazarus.[12]

Aidan defeats Diablo, albeit at the cost of Albrecht's life. Aidan tries to contain Diablo within himself through the shattered soulstone, but fails to fully contain the demon.[1]

Adria seeks out Aidan, seeking to console him following the ordeal of the Labyrinth. She sees the power of Diablo within the young warrior, and pledges herself to his service, giving herself to him in the encounter that would lead to the conception of her daughter, Leah.[27]

Adria gives birth to Leah during this year. She leaves her in the care of Gillian in Caldeum and promptly disappears.[17]

Norrec Vizharan and his companions come across the armor of Bartuc. The armor binds itself to Norrec and takes control of him, forcing him to travel to the east.[15]

A group of heroes begins a quest to defeat Diablo and his brothers. They destroy Blood Raven, a Rogue who accompanied Aidan into the labyrinth of Tristram and was corrupted by the demoness Andariel, and open a portal to Tristram to destroy the demons and rescue Deckard Cain. The heroes defeat the demoness Andariel, whose forces have overrun the monastery of the Sisterhood of the Sightless Eye and corrupted and killed many Rogues, before journeying east, following the Wanderer.[12]

The heroes journey to Lut Gholein, where they destroy the demon lord Duriel within the Tomb of Tal Rasha and rescue the archangel Tyrael; it is discovered that Baal is already free from his soulstone.

The Dark Wanderer completes his transformation into Diablo; Mephisto, and the corrupted Zakarum high priesthood, are defeated beneath the jungles of Kurast by the band of heroes.

The heroes journey into the Pandemonium Fortress, where they defeat Izual, the betrayer of the High Heavens, and storm Hell itself. Diablo is defeated in the Chaos Sanctuary, and his soulstone is destroyed, along with Mephisto's, upon the Hellforge.[12]

The heroes follow Baal to Mount Arreat for the final conflict between man and the last of the Prime Evils. Although the heroes defeat Baal, his demonic army continues to advance.

The angel Tyrael discovers that Baal has succeeded in corrupting the Worldstone housed within Mount Arreat. Realizing that the Worldstone cannot be restored, Tyrael reluctantly destroys it. The resulting explosion destroys Mount Arreat, ravages much of the countryside, and decimates Baal's army.[12]

The heroes that have defeated the Prime Evils return to their homes and families. Cain, knowing that Sanctuary is now open thanks to the destruction of the Worldstone, begins searching for a means to save the mortal realm.[17]

Faith in the Zakarum Church is shattered once its former demonic influence is revealed. Emperor Hakan I moves Kehjistan's capital to Caldeum. Over the years, Caldeum becomes the most powerful and influential urban center in Sanctuary.[2]

With the defeat of the Prime Evils, a period of relative calm descends on Sanctuary.[17] It lasts for two decades.[30]

Over the years, merchants and adventurers are drawn to the ruins of Tristram, having heard tales of the treasures that lie within its cathedral. The structure is stripped of all valuables. New Tristram, having been built on this practice, falls into ignomity.[11]

Tyrael is held to account for his actions by Imperius. He takes on mortal form and descends to Sanctuary, plummeting into the old cathedral as a falling star.[31] The power of the fallen star causes the dead to rise around New Tristram and Leoric rises once more as the Skeleton King, swearing to make all suffer as he has suffered.[8]

The Nephalem arrive(s) in New Tristram. With the aid of Leah and Deckard Cain, the Skeleton King and undead are silenced and Tyrael is saved, albeit at the cost of Cain's life at the hands of Maghda. They subsequently head east to deal with Belial.[8]

The group arrives in Caldeum. They track down Maghda and the Coven to the ruined city of Alcarnus and destroy them to avenge Deckard Cain, then rescue Leah from the grip of the Imperial Guard, who are serpent demons of Belial. They escape into the sewers, where they learn that Leah's mother, Adria, is alive, and rescue her from Belial's minions.[32]

With the aid of Adria, the heroes are able to recover the Black Soulstone from Zoltun Kulle. After saving the people of the city from the assault of Belial, they penetrate into the Imperial Palace, defeat Belial, and use the Black Soulstone to imprison him.[32]

Azmodan, now the last lord of hell, reveals to Leah that his army will emerge from the Arreat Crater, prompting the group to head north.[33]

Azmodan's armies besiegeBastion's Keep, but thanks to the heroes, the attack is turned back. The heroes subsequently take the fight to Azmodan, defeat him, and imprison him in the Black Soulstone.[27]

Adria reveals her true colors, turning the Black Soulstone on Leah and awakening Diablo's presence within her. The Great Evils become one, Diablo now a singular Prime Evil. He departs for the High Heavens, with the heroes again in pursuit.[27]

Diablo besieges Heaven, but again, the heroes are the deciding factor. Diablo himself is cast down and the Heavens saved. Tyrael returns to his breathren, taking on the aspect of Wisdom and declaring that Heaven and Sanctuary shall stand together.[34]

Two months after Diablo's defeat,[35] Tyrael forms a new order of Horadrim. Their first order of business is to retrieve the Black Soulstone from Heaven, which has begun to corrupt the Angiris Council.[2]

Tyrael and the Horadrim retrieve the stone and hide it in Sanctuary. However, Malthael, now the Angel of Death, takes the stone for his own use.[36]

Malthael's Reapers assault Westmarch. Tyrael and his allies do what they can to defend the populace.[37]

Lord Wynton uses the chaos of the Reaper attack to foment rebellion among the peasantry against King Justinian IV. Wynton murders the king, but is struck down by the Nephalem before he can consolidate his new power.[38]

Malthael is defeated, though at the cost of the destruction of the Black Soulstone and release of Diablo.[38]

A timeline for the series was posted on Blizzard's Diablo III page, its dates ranging from 964 to 1265. This was later taken down. With the release of Book of Tyrael, the timeline was finally solidified.[39] The practice of this page is to go with the most recent timeline and make note of contradictions/retcons (see below)

c. -1741: The events of the Sin War end, according to the "three thousand years before the Darkening of Tristram" figure in the Sin War trilogy. The timeframe has been altered by a few decades in the most recent timeline.

c. -715: During the height of the Mage Clan Wars, the Vizjerei discover the Umbaru. The Vizjerei, desiring demon-possessed victims to battle against their enemies, seek to turn the Umbaru into their servants.[11] This has since been rendered null by the timeline in Book of Tyrael.

c. -705: By this point in time, several Umbaru clans are at war with the Vizjerei. Although primitive, the Umbaru are able to keep the mages at bay with their use of the terrain and shear ferrocity (see above lore).[11]

c. -515: Umbaru capture a Vizjerei mage and attempt to use their now demon-possessed breathren against the Vizjerei themselves. However, they fall under the sway of the demon Zagraal and become the khazra (see above lore)[11]

c. 264: Gossip from Fara in Diablo II mentions the Sin War ravaging the lands of Aranoch 1000 years ago.